Harvesting firewood

[NS Gearhead]

Hmm, now what?! LOL


There we go!


Nothing better then blocking wood up off the ground!


This was a big guy. Oval at the base, but 18" the long way.


Had to work at it but got it down


You know it's big wood when


This is all in about a 50' circle. Taking 5 trees that were dead standing or semi-uprooted. I like to clean up after. Before I would have tried to burn the waste, but I'm fine with leaving piles now. |Provides a home for some critters.

 

[XMS]

Nice.

I usually drag them down and out using a tow chain. My brother uses a winch, which I could use. But so far the loader has been my friend. It gets a lot done.

I like to save a pine for the last day, then drag the crown back over my roads to level them out and clear the leaves. Think "really big broom".

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I hate dropping a tree into a hangup. It offends my sense of order.
Just finished taking down a partial blow over. Cutting the root ball off was the easy part as I just had to throw a log under the trunk for support, and keep an eye on the trunk to see if it was going to slide or not (it didn't, resting on another cut trunk a little farther up the slope.) The tough part was where the trunk split in two about 12 feet up and on both sides of another tree I didn't want to take down because it's a relatively uncommon choke cherry, and trying to drop it would have put me right under the leaner. Ended up having to use the FEL as a platform to stand on while I nibbled one side away so the rest of the tree came down on the other side.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

I hate dropping a tree into a hangup. It offends my sense of order.
Just finished taking down a partial blow over. Cutting the root ball off was the easy part as I just had to throw a log under the trunk for support, and keep an eye on the trunk to see if it was going to slide or not (it didn't, resting on another cut trunk a little farther up the slope.) The tough part was where the trunk split in two about 12 feet up and on both sides of another tree I didn't want to take down because it's a relatively uncommon choke cherry, and trying to drop it would have put me right under the leaner. Ended up having to use the FEL as a platform to stand on while I nibbled one side away so the rest of the tree came down on the other side. I hate situations where I have to put on a safety harness, but not as much as I hate falling and hitting the cold hard ground with breakable body parts.

 

[MAN IN BLACK]

Hardwood makes much better firewood and produce much more heat.
I cut soft wood mainly for camping wood.
I use a skidding winch on the tractor pto...works very well.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Skidding is hard on the (saw's) chain... I'd rather just block it on site and move with the trailer. ****, I'd split it right away too if I was doing a smaller amount... but this is go time for 2-3 chord. It's just for the pool heater. I've got a good mix of birch, maple, pine, spruce and fir.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Just did some calculating; the trailer holds 1/10th of a chord. Neat way to keep track of how much I'm making. I've taken 6 loads out of that one spot between yesterday and today... and probably will be another 4.

Oh, about that strap I was using; it's a recovery strap I have left from my Jeeping days. I used it as it's easier on the bike when you reach the end. LOL I suppose I could have anchored the bike and used the winch.

 

[Avondale]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. I do lots of wood, house and sugar shack keeps me busy. Been doing it quite awhile yet I still manage to have one or two go wrong. Getting them unstuck is actually a challenge I enjoy, (once I am done kicking my *ss). I have an ATV, UTV and a Tractor, needed all of them at one time or another.

 

[motownbrowne]

Buying a used Farmi winch was the best thing that's ever happened to my firewood program. The ability to hook it to a choker wrapped around a hung up tree and pull the log to the ground, or even all the way to the tractor is incredible. And I can do it from a comfortable distance of up to 165'.

I love making firewood, and this tool has made it much safer, faster, and more enjoyable.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Nice pictures, thanks for sharing. I do lots of wood, house and sugar shack keeps me busy. Been doing it quite awhile yet I still manage to have one or two go wrong. Getting them unstuck is actually a challenge I enjoy, (once I am done kicking my *ss). I have an ATV, UTV and a Tractor, needed all of them at one time or another.

Yeah I just wasted a chainsaw bar the other day. Bound up in a semi-uprooted tree that was holding up three others. I decided to pull the first tree down with the wheeler and strap to be safe. When I came back the bar was dented and 2" off straight. I managed to get it .5" off over the 18" and used it like that for 3 days before my other came in.

I know what you mean about the challenge. It's the same thing as when I was jeeping. No one likes to get stuck, but the challenge of a safe recovery is fun. I got pretty good at it. Others would come to me, or step aside when I'd come to help. Felt good for the old ego. LOL

I realize I have a need for a tractor, but I had to decide between that and a fourwheeler this passed spring. I wanted something to have fun and work with... and a SXS was gonna be a little too much money. Actually, I had to choose between a fourwheeler with tracks, or a Ranger without. I think I made the right choice. I hope to build a hard cab for it sometime... and maybe a front mount snowblower.

 

[XMS]

Hardwood makes much better firewood and produce much more heat.
I cut soft wood mainly for camping wood.
I use a skidding winch on the tractor pto...works very well.

Agreed. Got three words for you, though: Eastern Bark Beetle

The things are tearing through the area killing every pine. I have acres of pines that are just not going to make it. A state forestry agent came by years ago, and she told me "those are all standing dead sooner or later - do the region a favor and cut every **** one of them down to slow the spread of the bugs."

It took a while, but I believe her. Problem is I am one guy against a lot of trees. I am mostly oak, beech, gum and poplar (mostly oak and beech) - but still got a few thousand pine out there between them all.

So I learn to burn pine. Having a wood gasifier helps a lot. The flue doesn't gum up and other than energy density, pine burns as good as anything else. I prefer it when I start the boiler "cold" because it burns fast and hot, so it will get the water up to heat faster than anything else. Once the boiler is hot, I generally build a base of white oak or beech, and then toss gum, pine, poplar, cherry...whatever on top. Works great.

I would not burn it in anything without a secondary chamber, though. Creosote makes a mess. But at 1700-1800 degrees I don't have a problem.

 

[Oldpath05]

Hope this pic came through of Rhino from last year


I just got my firewood cut up today, all 8 cord or so of tree length that I hauled out last January and February, I was 5 hrs. yesterday 4 hrs. today, and now I'm a little sore. I think running a chainsaw use's different muscles then welding. At least I was able to clean the carbon out of my Husqvarna 550XP with make believe Auto tune, biggest tree was around 16" on but, and a lot of beach white maple some red oak, yellow birch, ash and two white birch trees, a true mixture of hardwood. I'll start splitting some of the bigger stuff this weekend, and get it under cover, even my hands are sore.

 

[Oldpath05]

I should of taken a picture of the firewood before I started, I had 8-10 cord of tree length in a different pile to the right, at a 90 degree angle. I put 16 inch forks on my tractor bucket, scoop up 2or3 trees at a time, sometime if the tree is big, just get 1, and bring them over, when I get 8 or 10 trees side by side, I start cutting, after 8-10 hrs., I end up with a big pile perfectly of cut up firewood, at exactly12-20 inches long, or close to it.


Now if I can just figure out away to scoop the wood up in my bucket and load my trailer with out getting a bunch of dirt in with it, getting it under cover would be a lot easier, in the mean time, I'll start getting it in this weekend.

 

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Now if I can just figure out away to scoop the wood up in my bucket and load my trailer with out getting a bunch of dirt in with it, getting it under cover would be a lot easier, in the mean time, I'll start getting it in this weekend.

I've wrestled with this myself. This fork I made picks up the wood pretty easily but even with this, one does not escape the dirt that inevitably comes along. Perhaps some type of grapple bottom would be more the ticket for such a chore.

 

[Oldpath05]

Maybe if the whole bucket was made like the front forks it would pick up more wood than dirt, but then I would need a quick change bucket on my tractor. I don't think there's an easy answer for under a $1000.00, but I'll keep and looking for something.

 

[XMS]

Maybe if the whole bucket was made like the front forks it would pick up more wood than dirt, but then I would need a quick change bucket on my tractor. I don't think there's an easy answer for under a $1000.00, but I'll keep and looking for something.

I saw one in action recently on a small Kubota. It was tined top and bottom like you suggest and had a third-function grapple. It picked up the logs pretty good and left a lot of junk on the ground, but still some dirt came with it. Logs just like to get dirty. The open "bucket" was much better than a closed one, obviously.

My latest trick is to pile split wood up near the stacks and wait for the rain to clean it off. This week was real wet, so I got a lot of wood to stack today.

 

[arrow]

Maybe if the whole bucket was made like the front forks it would pick up more wood than dirt, but then I would need a quick change bucket on my tractor. I don't think there's an easy answer for under a $1000.00, but I'll keep and looking for something.

Actually it is the tines themselves that pick up most of the dirt. It seems the logs some how "bunch" the debris up as they are being pushed into the teeth. That little half round bar I welded in to keep the teeth stable picks up incredible amounts of dirt. I approach the pile with the teeth at a 45* angle being very careful not to "dig in" but s careful as I am, there is always dirt. Perhaps a true manure bucket would be more applicable. Too bad someone doesn't invent a "wood magnet" that just sort of sucks up the wood into the bucket.

 

[Dr_Zinj]

Agreed. Got three words for you, though: Eastern Bark Beetle

The things are tearing through the area killing every pine. I have acres of pines that are just not going to make it. A state forestry agent came by years ago, and she told me "those are all standing dead sooner or later - do the region a favor and cut every **** one of them down to slow the spread of the bugs."...

I'm taking a lesson from the Great American Chestnut Blight. Cut them only when they're dead. The ones that are ailing, but still alive, may have some form of resistance to the beetle (or other pathogen) and may be able to pass it on to the next generation. If you clear cut them to try to stop the spread, as they did with the Chestnuts, you'll probably end up making them go extinct because you killed the survivors too.

 

[Gordon Gould]

Nice pics Gearhead.


I saw this u-tube of a tine bucket picking up firewood. It looked like it worked pretty good to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZjX7L7fYgU

gg

 

[dave1949]

I'm taking a lesson from the Great American Chestnut Blight. Cut them only when they're dead. The ones that are ailing, but still alive, may have some form of resistance to the beetle (or other pathogen) and may be able to pass it on to the next generation. If you clear cut them to try to stop the spread, as they did with the Chestnuts, you'll probably end up making them go extinct because you killed the survivors too.

I don't cut elm for that reason. I usually have a few around that mature enough to make seeds. Don't think I've seen one live over 8"-10" dbh. Maybe someday one will have the resistance to live long.